Library Guards Await Limited Police Power

Drivers have cursed Sgt. Ricardo A. Wright when he has asked them not to park illegally in spaces for the handicapped. One patron told Wright, a library security officer, “Who are you to tell me what to do? Get a cop and I’ll listen to you.”

Wright is betting that such troublesome patrons will be more cooperative if library security officers are granted arrest powers. Now they can only detain people until police arrive.

The state Assembly last month approved a bill that would give library officers limited law enforcement status, including the power to arrest people on library property and transport them to local police stations.

Security supervisors also would be granted access to criminal records in law enforcement databases to see whether suspects have outstanding warrants. The bill is awaiting Gov. Gray Davis’ signature. If signed into law, it will take effect Jan. 1.

“The main thing is to ensure people simply going to the library for access to computers, to do research, should be allowed the sanctity of a peaceful experience,” said state Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sylmar), the bill’s author.

From July 1998 to June 1999, the city’s 68 libraries reported 717 crimes, said Los Angeles Public Library spokesman Peter V. Persic. Most involved disorderly conduct, vandalism and disturbing the peace, he said.

A study three years ago by the state Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training determined that city library officers needed limited law enforcement status to deal with such minor crimes.

Arrest powers will allow library officers to quickly remove troublemakers, said Los Angeles Public Library Sgt. Frank Martinez. Officers must now guard detainees while waiting for police, he said.

It has become increasingly difficult to keep libraries serene, officials said, with rambunctious teenagers coming in after school and patrons taking bar code stickers off books to steal them. Other, less frequent crimes include car thefts and break-ins in library parking lots, said Renee Ardon, senior librarian at the Canoga Park Library.

At the Canoga Park branch, police recently used a trespassing order to keep a patron from returning, Ardon said. The man had regularly refused to share tables with other visitors and often told immigrant patrons to go back where they came from, she said.

Roy Stone, senior librarian at the Fairfax Library and president of the Librarians’ Guild, which represents more than 300 city librarians, said the guild supports the state bill.

As library staffs are reduced because of belt-tightening, lawbreakers have become emboldened, Stone said.

Fifty-one library officers provide around-the-clock security for 68 Los Angeles city libraries, two bookmobiles and the library warehouse in Boyle Heights. Ten officers with geographical beats work in marked patrol cars and respond to calls at city libraries throughout Los Angeles.

Officers carry batons, handcuffs and pepper spray. The proposed bill would not provide guns to the officers, who receive 40 hours of training at Rio Hondo Police Academy in Whittier.

“We’re all black belts in verbal judo and tongue fu,” Martinez joked.

The job has its risks. In the past six months, four library officers have been injured by suspects, Martinez said. One was bitten on the leg by a detainee and the others were punched and kicked.

Under the new law, officers also would be allowed to search suspects for concealed weapons, said Los Angeles Public Library Chief Ernest R. Love.

Officers also could arrest detainees who refuse to provide valid identification, he said.

Library officers are members of the Service Employees International Union and earn $28,000 to $36,000 a year.